Sony introduces high-end ZD9 TV series with HDR

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Watched a few 3D movies on this recently and have really enjoyed them. Reminded me why I loved 3D so much in the first place. Crosstalk is still present here and there, it really is just title-dependent I think (NOT that the crosstalk is present in the encoded image, it's not, I mean how the TV specifically reacts from one 3D movie to another).

I don't do anything with my settings from 2D SDR viewing in 3D except for pushing the contrast up to 92 to eke out a bit more brightness (checked with Spears & Munsil so that it's not clipping the contrast pattern) and putting the Reality Creation on Manual at level 20 on the slider because I still think that a little detail is being filtered off during 3D viewing.

Nice, good to see you enjoying 3D.

Personally I don't felt the need for more brightness, so I have left contrast at 85.

RC at 20, that's rather high I think? I have been watching quite some 3D content myself over the past two weeks and I went from 14 to 8 on the slider. What I regularly did was pausing scenes of closeups of peoples faces and then toggled RC on/off. It looked a little too processed to me at times, so I tried to go lower. Viewing distance is about 2 meters/6,5 feet (for the 65"). I do use 20 but for cable content only.

[Geoff D]

Whenever I've used it before I've always settled on 20-ish, it gives a nice bump to the sharpness without making it look overly sharpened.

[DJR662]

Incidentally on Sony projectors (at least on the 285ES and 385ES), setting the 3D glasses brightness to standard (instead of high) masks whatever crosstalk there might be quite affectively I think. Ofcourse it comes with the drawback of having a darker picture, but at least this is an actual working workaround.

I tested this with setting the glasses to medium and low with the Z9D, but unfortunately that did not have the same effect and crosstalk remained the same.

[DVD Josh]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Whenever I've used it before I've always settled on 20-ish, it gives a nice bump to the sharpness without making it look overly sharpened.

20 is my setting as well.

[DVD Josh]

Originally Posted by DJR662

Incidentally on Sony projectors (at least on the 285ES and 385ES), setting the 3D glasses brightness to standard (instead of high) masks whatever crosstalk there might be quite affectively I think. Ofcourse it comes with the drawback of having a darker picture, but at least this is an actual working workaround.

I tested this with setting the glasses to medium and low with the Z9D, but unfortunately that did not have the same effect and crosstalk remained the same.

The best 3D "fix" I've found for this set is simply waiting for it to warm up (about 20 minutes or so into the movie) and resyncing the glasses. Maybe it's my imagination but it seems to help resolve some of the 3D issues.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by DJR662

Incidentally on Sony projectors (at least on the 285ES and 385ES), setting the 3D glasses brightness to standard (instead of high) masks whatever crosstalk there might be quite affectively I think. Ofcourse it comes with the drawback of having a darker picture, but at least this is an actual working workaround.

I tested this with setting the glasses to medium and low with the Z9D, but unfortunately that did not have the same effect and crosstalk remained the same.

Yes, as with most 'fixes' for the 3D on Sony TVs I've tried all that ^

[pbz06]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Whenever I've used it before I've always settled on 20-ish, it gives a nice bump to the sharpness without making it look overly sharpened.

Have you compared Manual/20 vs Auto? Curious what it targets for discs.

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by pbz06

Have you compared Manual/20 vs Auto? Curious what it targets for discs.

Auto is way too much IMO.

And for 2D 1080p Blu-ray and UHD there really is no need for it.

[BLMN]

So according to Vincent @HDTVTest Sony will add HDR10+ to its tvs (which ones TBD) through firmware. He mentions it on the description of this video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u0zzLg4pmEs

[Geoff D]

Some people have already reported getting HDR10+ 'unofficially' on their Sony TVs, those with the X1U processor I think? But I reckon the X1E chipsets are just a bit too long in the tooth for it. Remember, the Dolby Vision update had to be a different low latency profile which means that the player, not the TV, does the dynamic mapping and so I don't see how this TV will have the horsepower to do another system of dynamic mapping.

[BLMN]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Some people have already reported getting HDR10+ 'unofficially' on their Sony TVs, those with the X1U processor I think? But I reckon the X1E chipsets are just a bit too long in the tooth for it. Remember, the Dolby Vision update had to be a different low latency profile which means that the player, not the TV, does the dynamic mapping and so I don't see how this TV will have the horsepower to do another system of dynamic mapping.

Does HDR10+ really needs more "juice" from the X1E to function properly ? to my understanding DV needed a Dolby chip to be included on the device but Sony came up with an alternative (low latency) without having to add Dolby's chip. My only concern is Sony just adding this to newer models to force us to upgrade our sets like the imax certification that works in pretty much all 2016 and up models (except running the tv app through ARC where audio has limitations) but they only certified 2018 and up. Anyways would be nice to have this on the Z9D.

[spider-neil]

Originally Posted by BLMN

So according to Vincent @HDTVTest Sony will add HDR10+ to its tvs (which ones TBD) through firmware. He mentions it on the description of this video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u0zzLg4pmEs

HDR10+ can be added to a TV with firmware? If that is possible I hope LG follow suit.

[Robert Zohn]

Yes, unlike Dolby Vision that is processor dependent, HDR10+ can be upgraded on most TVs and other equipment if the manufacturer wants to support HDR10+.

I know we have read that Sony will likely be upgrading some TVs to be HDR10+ compatable, but personallay I doubt that will happen.

[DJR662]

Any particular reason why one would really need/want DV or HDR10+ for that matter on the Z9D?

[DVD Josh]

Originally Posted by DJR662

Any particular reason why one would really need/want DV or HDR10+ for that matter on the Z9D?

Because DV looks great on it?

[DJR662]

Originally Posted by DVD Josh

Because DV looks great on it?

I honestly wouldn't know really.

I only watched Halloween (1978) and 10 minutes of Tomb Raider (2018) in DV on it. Went back to regular HDR10 after that and never looked back.

I've read about DV to a certain degree apparently "fixing" issues on certain titles (The Fog), but other than that, I'm not sure what to look for as far as major improvements over HDR10 is concerned?

[pbz06]

Originally Posted by DJR662

I honestly wouldn't know really.

I only watched Halloween (1978) and 10 minutes of Tomb Raider (2018) in DV on it. Went back to regular HDR10 after that and never looked back.

I've read about DV to a certain degree apparently "fixing" issues on certain titles (The Fog), but other than that, I'm not sure what to look for as far as major improvements over HDR10 is concerned?

It would be subtle differences...nobody will really notice the difference between 12-bit and 10-bit color gradient, especially on a Z9D which already has excellent processing. Then there's dynamic metadata, which again, is subtle enough that you wouldn't notice it unless watching side by side and in motion. It's also not like every production is taking full advantage of dynamic metadata.

I'm willing to bet most of the DV content we watch is just HDR10 in a DV container. I know the whole "omg process chain from beginning to end is monitored by DV", but I don't buy it after certification. Don't know how to otherwise explain how everything on Netflix, including older content, one day just switched from HDR10 to DV after a firmware update.

^all of this is my speculation and not based on any factual knowledge.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by BLMN

Does HDR10+ really needs more "juice" from the X1E to function properly ? to my understanding DV needed a Dolby chip to be included on the device but Sony came up with an alternative (low latency) without having to add Dolby's chip. My only concern is Sony just adding this to newer models to force us to upgrade our sets like the imax certification that works in pretty much all 2016 and up models (except running the tv app through ARC where audio has limitations) but they only certified 2018 and up. Anyways would be nice to have this on the Z9D.

Dolby Vision can be done in software now https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.ph...&id=1488181691 but it needs a hell of a lot of "juice" as you say, yet even that was well beyond the capability of the X1E processor which is why the low latency player-led version was used in the first place.

While HDR10+ isn't as processor intensive as DV, not having to rebuild a 12-bit image at the other end, it's not a cakewalk either because the display is still having to interpret all these mapping instructions regarding lift, gamma, gain, colour, luminance etc etc in real time, faster than that even if it's going to keep ahead of the actual scene-based metadata, and, yes, that still takes some "juice". It can't just simply be dropped into an operating system either, it'll take a lot of time to integrate properly and seeing as it took so long to get DV-lite up and running on the X1E processor then I'm not holding my breath for 10+ any time soon.

[RalphoR]

My X900E just got the new firmware update today but not my Z9D. Is the Z series like the last one to get every update? Yeah, I know I can manually do it but it's the principle

[BLMN]

Originally Posted by RalphoR

My X900E just got the new firmware update today but not my Z9D. Is the Z series like the last one to get every update? Yeah, I know I can manually do it but it's the principle

I still haven’t received the Oreo update